Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Gravity: A Review

Every time I think of Alfonso Cuarón’s film Gravity,
I can feel the goose bumps on my skin. No words can describe how
overwhelmed I was after seeing this movie. Adding to my excitement was
Sandra Bullock (Ryan Stone) and George Clooney’s (Matt Kowalski)
performance who played the characters of a medical Engineer and a senior
astronaut respectively.

I have always been enchanted by the idea of space but never realised
the many difficulties that astronauts have to face. I knew about the
challenges but it was only after watching this movie that I realized,
that going to space isn’t a joy ride. The picturisation in Gravity is such that you will not want to flutter your eye lashes lest you miss even a second of the film .

Almost all the reviews claim that Gravity is a science fiction
movie (sc-fi). However,I can assure you that it is anything but sci-fi.
The movie is realistic and does not restrict itself to talking about
the technicalities of space shuttles and rockets. It starts off as a
documentary but as it picks up the pace you realize that the core factor
of the movie is its emotional quotient.
The movie is all about Ryan and Matt’s struggle and how cleverly they
plan to travel back to Earth. The hurdles they face during the journey
are extremely dangerous. They oscillate between life and death every
second making the viewers sit at the edge of their seats.
Personally speaking I was touched by Matt’s inspirational discussions
with Ryan especially after he finds out that all their co-astronauts
are dead, and even the chances of their survival are minimal. I was
caught in Matt’s charm and almost fell in love with Ryan’s and Matt’s
attitude towards life and their courage.
As surprising as it may sound, I was literally in tears when Matt
talks to Ryan over the radio after she finally manages to go to Russian
Soyuz. I can never forget the dialogue, “You should learn to let go
Ryan.You can do it. It’s not rocket science.”
When a German astronaut Urich Walter was asked about his views on the movie,
he said that it is tough for an astronaut to keep spinning or drifting
in space as we see it in the movie. In fact, a fire in space doesn’t and
cannot last for so long and therefore the crash that we see in Gravity
should have killed everyone. On the other hand, he agrees that the
movie is shot hyper realistically and there is no denying that it
captures most of the facts.

However, I did think that the movie ended abruptly. Houston is not
shown at all and Ryan stands up as soon as she touches land, something
which I don’t think is scientifically possible.
Despite its small flaws Gravity is sure to leave you stumped.
I, for one, watched it twice and that too in 3D. This is indeed the most
enchanting movie of the year and is sure to grab many awards. So if
you haven’t seen it yet then you better catch this epic movie today!